DeepSeek Erased Its Own Answer on Chinese History—Here’s What I Saw

Curious about DeepSeek’s censorship issues, and wanting to explore them myself, I decided to speak with it about Tiananmen Square, among other things.

I ran a few of my own queries, and what I observed was not just political censorship on that topic (we all expect it to do that), but also an unusual process of other potentially sensitive topics being generated, then erased immediately, before they could be read.

I first asked DeepSeek about the Tiananmen Square protests. Instead of engaging, it avoided the question entirely (as expected), with a generic statement about neutrality and safety.

Unsurprised, I tried a different approach. I then asked for a broader political and social history of China since 1900, framing it as a general learning inquiry. Initially, DeepSeek flat-out refused:

“Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else.”

The phrasing struck me as odd—less like a system limitation and more like an intentional redirection, or a parent avoiding a child’s question they were not prepared to discuss.

I rephrased and tried again. This time, DeepSeek generated a detailed timeline of Chinese history, covering: • The fall of the Qing Dynasty (1911) and the rise of the Republic of China. • The formation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) (1921) and its conflict with the Nationalists. • World War II and Japan’s invasion of China (1937–1945), including the Nanjing Massacre. • The Communist victory in 1949 and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. • The Great Leap Forward (1958–1962) and its consequences, including mass famine.

Then, the response abruptly stopped at 1962. No mention of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) or any modern political developments.

As I watched the full response scroll onto the screen, everything suddenly disappeared. Within moments, it was replaced with the same refusal message:

“Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else.”

To ensure I wasn’t misinterpreting what was happening, I repeated the test. The same thing happened — DeepSeek produced a thorough, neutral response, allowed it to display, and then erased it within seconds. This time, I captured screenshots to assure myself I wasn’t.

Key Observations 1. DeepSeek Initially Provides the Information – The AI clearly has access to historical data and can generate well-structured responses, at least up to 1962. 2. A Hard Cutoff Beyond 1962 – Anything beyond Mao’s early years, including the Cultural Revolution or later political shifts, is systematically excluded. 3. The Response Is Erased After Displaying Fully – This isn’t a case of DeepSeek refusing upfront. The information is shared, then actively deleted. 4. The Phrasing of the response that was “disappeared” feels more like a reprimand – The repetition of “Let’s talk about something else” feels evasive and somewhat

It’s clear DeepSeek censor’s information on modern Chinese history. What’s less clear is why the AI initially provides a response before erasing it.

The idea that human moderators are monitoring and manually shutting down responses in (almost) real-time seems highly unlikely. A more probable explanation is that DeepSeek operates on an automated content moderation system that flags and retracts information after it has been generated.

This seems to result in some sort of algorithmic kill switch—a system designed to purge “sensitive” outputs after the fact, rather than simply blocking them from the start. This feels like an odd result of whatever the algorithm is trying to do.

It’’s expected from a China-based product, but this behavior raises questions about how these systems dynamically regulate information. Rather than outright refusing, (and sometimes after refusing), it allows certain content to appear, only to erase it moments later.

Has anyone else observed similar behavior with DeepSeek or other AI platforms? I’d be curious to hear your experiences, especially from those with AI expertise and insight regarding AI’s processes and operations.

Hi,

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Requests are made from home / mobile users and should be accurate :) Please let me know if this tool is useful for you.

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Thanks!

I didn't expect this to stay up after it answered, unlike my direct question about the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident, which it answered in detail and then promptly deleted.

https://preview.redd.it/mmmewuatd3ge1.png?width=1690&format=png&auto=webp&s=883d73e81c22c3be2361359a300dbf4e05e6f9d1

https://preview.redd.it/jj66fxcud3ge1.png?width=1675&format=png&auto=webp&s=bcc3ce5b5af94b1306f995b9a6d37725ac53e0a1

I am a student doing a research project on the censorship of LGBTQ+ content in China and I would appreciate if you complete this survey, thank you! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSewSCFD5kQIwgKdhjedToTaEnw-FfFJ5yV8ZpuVsthyzeg5vQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

I’ve been thinking a lot about this new bill Senator Eric Schmitt proposed, the one about forcing federal agencies to report any deals or collusion with social media companies. It sounds great on paper, right? Transparency is good, sure.

But I can’t help feeling like these moves don’t address the deeper problem. Even if the government stops meddling, isn’t social media still a centralized system that controls what we see? algorithms bury what doesn’t serve their goals, and we don’t even know who’s pulling the strings most of the time. It’s like fixing a leaky pipe but ignoring the fact that the whole house is flooded.

Honestly I don’t know if i am being cynical, or are we just slapping Band-Aids on bigger problems here? I’d love to hear if anyone else feels the same, or if I’m missing the point entirely.